Green Minute News:
The estimated tiger population in the five Tiger Reserves of Karnataka is 393. This estimate is as per 2024 Phase IV monitoring which includes observations of few individual tigers moving across the landscape from Tiger Reserves to other tiger habitat areas in the state. It declined from 472 in 2020 to 393 in 2024.
The Annual Report of Karnataka’s tiger population in the five tiger reserves was released on Thursday by Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre in the presence of Karnataka Forest Department.
There have been multiple evidences indicating that tigers have dispersed from the Tiger Reserves to adjoining habitats in search of territory. Due to the dispersal movement of tigers, fluctuations are observed in the annual tiger population estimation of the 5 Tiger Reserves.
The field surveys mainly included:
- Camera trap survey used for Tiger and co-predator’s population estimation
- Line transect survey used for Prey population estimation
The Karnataka Forest Department has analyzed and has come up with Annual report on Status of Tigers, prey and other mammals, Karnataka – 2024. A total effort of 2160 camera trap locations were installed in the Tiger reserves which provided around 61 lakh images of all the wildlife species. Tiger images were further segregated using an AI based software and then processed to identify individual tigers based on the unique stripe patterns on both sides (flanks) of each Tiger.
Comparison of Status of Tigers in the 5 Tiger Reserves of Karnataka (2014 to 2024):
| Year | 2014 | 2018 | 2020 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| Camera Points | 578 | 1776 | 1818 | 2179 | 2162 | 2160 |
| Unique Tigers Captured | 226 | 332 | 365 | 376 | 384 | 373 |
| Est Tiger Population | 261 | 472 | 403 | 417 | 408 | 393 |
But, the statewide tiger population, assessed once every four years, has shown a steady increase over time, both within the five Tiger reserves and in other potential tiger habitats. The upcoming All India Tiger Estimation (AITE) – 2026 is expected to provide a clearer understanding of tigers that have established themselves in other protected areas after dispersing from the Tiger Reserves.
Karnataka being one of the pioneer states for Tiger conservation, has meticulously followed the field protocols and conducted the surveys in the state since 2015. The current Phase IV monitoring surveys were conducted during November 2023 to February 2024 in all the 5 tiger Reserves of the state – Nagarhole, Bandipur, Bhadra, BRT and Kali (Dandeli-Anshi.
The Karnataka Forest department through Karnataka Wildlife Technical cell maintains a master database of Tigers photo-captured in camera trap surveys from 2013 till date, which has details about all the tigers, their age, gender, their territory and also any dispersal movement patterns. The database also serves as a major management tool by identifying the tiger involved in conflicts, or any injured or dead tiger by identifying and matching their stripe patterns.